Dell bids for Compellent Technologies

Not happy with the lengthy battle for 3PAR, which gave us all something to write about in silly season, Dell has gone on to look at buying storage company Compellent Technologies.

However, rashness could cause potential problems and spark another bidding war. Dell has said that it wants to buy the company for about $876 million, or $27.50 per share. This is at nearly a 20 percent discount to the data-storage maker’s current market value with its stock closing at $33.65 a share yesterday.

Dell did not say why its bid was for less than the current share price – perhaps it’s leaving room for additional bidding – but this move shows the manufacturer is keen to get its foot in the storage industry door after it’s long battle with HP for 3PAR. In August it made an offer for the company, but HP made a higher one. The bidding war continued for a month before Dell held up the white flag and HP got it’s company over paying by 242 percent of the current value.

That drove many other storage companies’ stocks up, including Compellent’s, as investors figured that the bidding war’s loser would probably pick up one of 3PAR’s competitors.

We wonder what EMC will make of it all. Back in October the storage company, which had been cosy with Dell for a while kicked off after hearing that Dell had been trying to woo 3PAR.